Cashew Nut Stir Fry

This is a fairly quick one-pot dish to make and flexible too: a good way to use up veg at the bottom of the fridge. Nutritionally balanced, this needs no accompaniment. Those vegetables mentioned here can be substituted for others such as courgettes, peppers or spring onions, and even frozen vegetables can be added though they may need to be cooked first. Noodles can be used instead of rice: they won't need as much cooking initially. The key is to cut the vegetables into bite-sized pieces and cook the harder ones first so they all end up tender without being overdone. You'll need a wok or a large non-stick frying pan with a lid.

Ingredients (for 2 people)
about 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
half a medium onion
1 large carrot
2 sticks celery
1 clove garlic
half a head of broccolli/calabrese
chunk of white cabbage (about 10 cm by 5 cm)
4 medium mushrooms
3 or 4 tablespoons cashew nuts
100 to 150g long grain brown rice
half teaspoon ginger
juice of half a lemon
about 1 tablespoon soy sauce
black pepper

Method
Start by rinsing the rice in a seive before putting into a medium pan half-filled with boiling water and simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal. If it is ready early, drain, rinse in cold water and refrigerate until the vegetables are done.
Wash and prepare all the vegetables by peeling if necessary and chopping them into bite-sized pieces. It helps to make the dish more attractive if different shapes are used. Celery needs to be washed and sliced thinly; broccolli can be cut into small florets; the cabbage can be shredded finely and the mushrooms sliced. The carrots will need to be peeled and either sliced very thinly or cut into "matchsticks". Peel and crush the garlic.
Heat the oil in the wok on a medium heat and add the onion, celery and carrot, stirring constantly to avoid sticking. Add the ginger and garlic after a few minutes.
When the onion looks half done, still stirring, add the cabbage, mushrooms and broccolli pieces. Then add the cashew nuts.
When the carrot is just tender and the nuts appear slightly toasted, reduce the heat to low and ccarefully add the lemon juice (the pan may hiss) and the soy sauce. At this point, add the cooked, drained and rinsed rice and cover with a lid, allowing the vegetables to simmer and the rice to heat through thoroughly.
When hot enough, add black pepper to taste, mix again and serve immediately, with more soy sauce if required.